LONG BEACH >> Sophea Teav, 17, is caught somewhere between old world traditions and life as an American teen.

Memories and traumas of back home linger in the generations before him, a constant presence while his generation struggles to find its way in a new world. He is one of thousands of children of Cambodian refugees, many of whom suffered tremendous violence in their native country at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Memories of famine, torture and death are ever present.

“My father, he couldn’t deal with all of this because he had (post-traumatic stress disorder),” said Teav, a senior at Poly High. “He left for 14 years of my life, just left me and my family alone.”

A number of local nonprofits help youth like Teav succeed in the present while reconciling with the past, including overcoming language barriers at home and navigating trauma that can lead to a host of problems.

When his father returned, Teav said his problems only mounted. His parents fought; he got little sleep and started to lag behind in school.

“Just trying to be myself once I’m awake for school ... being kept up awake, I woke up restless, really tired,” he said. “I really didn’t want to go to school, but I had to just to make my mother proud.”

The program aims to address student behavior without suspensions and other disciplinary actions. Instead, they use a concept called “restorative justice” that focuses on meeting the emotional needs of students, including reconciliation between students and teachers.

It is an uphill battle, advocates say. Students of color, including those from immigrant families, are disproportionately suspended when compared to white students, according to school district data. At John Marshall Middle School, example, about 19 percent of students have been suspended at some point, and 94.6 percent of those students were students of color.

A restorative justice approach to student discipline is being piloted at Jordan High School, according to officials from Khmer Girls in Action. Teav hopes a similar program will be implemented at Poly High in the near future.

But not all Long Beach youth struggle with the traumas of genocide and PTSD. Others are simply looking for a place to fit in.

Jeremy De Nieva, a 26-year-old who works in community outreach and business sponsorship for the Filipino Migrant Center, said reconnecting Filipino youth with their cultural background is vital for the community.

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“They feel isolated, they need that sense of belonging and place,” he said.

In order to create that cultural education, youth with the Filipino Migrant Center’s youth program successfully campaigned for the passage of state legislation earlier this year that will require inclusion of the contributions of Filipinos to the farm workers movement of the 1960s.

“It’s about who’s history we’re learning,” De Nieva said. “We question what kind of history we’re being taught and build our counter-narrative.”

About 434,781 Filipinos live in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside-Orange County area, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And roughly 29,000 Filipinos live in Long Beach, mostly on the west side in the Santa Fe Corridor, according to Alex Montances, campaigns coordinator at the Filipino Migrant Center.

The center’s campaigns and programs have inspired Madalyne Salud, a 15 year-old sophomore at Cabrillo High School.

“It’s about learning our true roots,” she said. “It got me more inspired because this stuff wasn’t included in our history classes at school. I learned something new.”

The center’s programs often focus on reconnecting youth with their culture and heritage.

This Saturday, the center’s Sama Sama youth program will stage a theatrical production in partnership with Anakbayan Los Angeles. The Pilipino Cultural Night will mark the 150th birthday of Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, leader of the Philippine Revolution against Spain from 1896-98.

At other organizations, serving immigrant youth takes place through more traditional methods — providing mentorship and homework help to students.

Angel Becerril, a 16-year-old student at Renaissance High School, sat in a downstairs room at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on 7th St. in Long Beach recently playing Scrabble with his mentor, Steven Nottingham.

The two are affiliated with Power 4 Youth, a Long Beach nonprofit that provides academic mentoring for struggling students. The nonprofit was founded in 1999 and now holds its mentoring sessions at sites in Long Beach, Lakewood, and will soon open a site in Bellflower.

“It’s not only about school,” Becerril said. “We’ve gone to concerts. We saw my favorite band ‘Falling in Reverse.’”

Building relationships has been key to the success of many nonprofit organizations and their campaigns. Amanda Em, an 18-year-old freshman at Cypress City College, is an intern at Khmer Girls in Action and graduate of Poly High.

In her sophomore year she experienced health problems and didn’t feel that she could approach her parents about it. She missed three months of classes. Her grades slipped and she failed her classes; she did not wear a cap and gown with her friends at graduation.

Emily Yem, a 15-year-old sophomore at Poly told a similar story. Raised by a single mom, she and her siblings didn’t even have enough money to pay medical bills.

Em and Yem are now active in a Khmer Girls in Action campaign to establish health centers at Long Beach high schools.

“If we had a wellness center it would be different because I would have been able to get more support,” Em said.

Behind the two, on the far wall of the office, a poster hangs on the wall with an ornate lotus flower — the Khmer Girls in Action logo.

And below the flower, reads the group’s motto: “Like A Lotus, We Rise.”